The current lines were drawn in a way to unfairly disenfranchise black voters, federal courts found.
While racial gerrymandering is illegal, the U.S. Supreme Court has so far allowed political gerrymandering, and one of the new rules is that legislators may consider past election results when drawing the new lines.
Rep. David Lewis told a joint meeting of the House and Senate redistricting committees that the process “will be an inherently political thing.”
Democrats opposed that rule, along with another one that says the new maps can be drawn in such a way to protect incumbents.
“It just seems ridiculous to me that you get to say, ‘We will protect the incumbents elected using unconstitutional maps,’ ” House Minority Leader Rep. Darren Jackson, a Wake County Democrat, said.
